Under the Radar
by VegaFayre
Summary: A year after the Leyline, Aisha decides to leave the crew to escape her unrequited love for a certain outlaw. Rated cuz I have a habit of cussing wout realizing it ;)
1. Default Chapter

Outlaw Star does not belong to me, but that should be glaringly obvious. Otherwise the show would still be running and Hot Ice Hilda would be the star of it. Anyway....

**Hello there. This is my first Outlaw Star fic-- I'm more of an original anime type. But, I decided that someone needed to portray Aisha Clan-clan with a brain.... Well, _I_ think she has one. Review and tell me if this is so ridiculously improbable that I need to stop.

A silent voyeur watched impassively from the shadows as a figure packed a load of clothes into a backpack and fastened it up. Twilight Suzuka, known simply as Suzuka to the crew of the Outlaw Star, cleared her throat and stepped into the light. The only person in the world that she allowed to call her 'Suzu' (sometimes) glanced up, not looking at all surprised.

"Hey, Suzu," Aisha said breezily. "What are you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same question," Suzuka replied, looking pointedly at the backpack. "Going somewhere?"

"You could say that," the Ctarl-ctarl answered evasively, moving past the assassin to the kitchen, where a teapot sat warming on the stove. "Ooh, what are you making?"

Suzuka moved smoothly to take the pot off of the eye before it whistled and woke the others up. "Tea. I couldn't sleep."

Aisha's face fell. "Aw, tea? Not coffee, Suzu? Aisha likes coffee."

"Aisha might like coffee," Suzuka gave her a sour look, "but _Suzuka _likes sleep. Coffee does not do much to help one sleep." She dropped her tea leaves into a cup and poured the boiling water over them.

The Ctarl laughed. "You're so funny, Suzu."

Suzuka's eye twitched, but she said nothing as Aisha opened the refrigerator door and began rooting around. After a few seconds, she emerged with some leftover Ctarl-ctarl stew. "Better take this with me. I might get hungry!"

"Please do," Suzuka said coolly, blowing at her tea to cool it. "We wouldn't want anyone else accidentally eating that poisonous muck."

Aisha stuffed a huge fish into her mouth, chewed twice and swallowed. "You humans have such weak stomachs." She left the room for a moment and came back with her bag and her cape. "Well, wish me luck, Suzu!"

"What are you doing?"

The Ctarl-ctarl looked at her like she was stupid. "I'm leaving."

"In the wee hours of the morning? Without telling anyone?"

"I don't have to tell anyone what I do!" Aisha frowned, a bit of a snarl creeping into her voice. "Not that it's any of your business, but I've been-- I've been called back by the Empire! They need me, so I don't know when or even _if _I'll be coming back!" Aisha said defiantly.

The assassin rose from her seat, leaving her tea. "What good news," she responded, not believing a word of it. "I think the others would really like to know about it." She moved as if to leave to kitchen.

"Wait!" Aisha jumped in front of her, waving her arms. She grinned sheepishly. "I really don't want to hurt Jimmy's feelings. I figure it's best if I just, you know, sneak off quietly."

Suzuka stopped and regarded Aisha impassively. "That's understandable."

"Yeah, he's a cool little guy," the Ctarl said quietly, and her eyes clouded for a minute. She shook herself out of her thoughts and began to fasten her cape on. "I thought about leaving a note," she said, back to her usual carefree tone. "But since you're here, you can just tell everyone!"

"Tell them what, exactly?"

Aisha threw an arm around the taller woman's shoulders and playfully poked Suzuka's cheek with her index finger. "Tell them Aisha's a very busy girl!"

Grimacing, Suzuka gingerly detached the Ctarl's arm from around her neck. Aisha whirled away and swept up her bag, then headed for the doorway. "It's been fun!" she called out over her shoulder. 

The older woman took a few steps after her. "Then why are you leaving? Something tells me you don't really want to."

"What can I do, Suzu?" Aisha shrugged blithely. "The Empire needs me!"

"The Empire needs you like they need a hole in the head," the assassin retorted. Her steaming tea sat unattended on the table, lending the faint scent of mint to the air.

The Ctarl-ctarl froze in her tracks, shoulders hunching defensively. "_The Empire needs me_," she repeated slowly, with an edge to her voice. 

Suzuka watched Aisha's tense back coolly for a minute. "Why don't you tell my why you're really leaving?" 

"I've already told you, _Suzuka_," Aisha growled through clenched teeth. "If you don't mind I'd like to leave now--"

"Before you lose your nerve?"

The Ctarl-ctarl turned around to look at the other woman, a rare serious expression on her cat-like face. She drew herself up to her full height, which still left her a good five inches shorter than the tall assassin. "I am a proud Ctarl-ctarl," Aisha said clearly. "And that's why I'm leaving."

Suzuka narrowed her eyes a bit. "I don't understand."

"Oh, yes you do," said Aisha ominously. "You just haven't realized it yet."

"Explain it to me, then."

Screwing up her face in annoyance, Aisha sighed. "Fine, but will you leave me alone if I do?" Suzuka raised an eyebrow, which the Ctarl knew was probably the only response she would get. Aisha took a deep breath, but spoke softly. "He already ruined my life once. I'm not going to let him do it again."

Suzuka's other eyebrow shot up. If Aisha hadn't felt so serious, she would have rolled with laughter. "You mean--"

"Gene," Aisha interrupted. "Yes, I'm talking about Gene. I love him, Suzu. It really sucks."

The assassin sat down heavily and reached for her tea.

So, there's more if you want it (chapter 2's already written). There are a lot of different ways this story could go: Aisha could actually go back to the Empire, or she could join up with Ron and Harry in desperation, or I could go way out and have Suzuka admit that the person she's loved all along is Aisha. Hell, I could magically transport poor Aisha into Escaflowne and make her sing the theme from "Cats" with Merle . (but that would be ridiculous). Any and all suggestions are welcome. 


	2. Chapter 2

Guess who? Yeah, yeah, I know I haven't updated in like three months. It's not my fault-- blame my teachers for trying to kill me with work. . Anyway, I've decided not to drag this particular scene out because I've decided not to make this an angst-filled romance... at least not until later. If that's what you were wanting, you'll just have to stick with me. Aren't I conniving? So this chapter is short, but the next one is action-packed and worth the wait. Review please!

"I thought you were over him," Suzuka said faintly. The steam from the cup wafted up to warm her face, but she hardly noticed. She took a small sip and set the tea back down with a nearly inaudible clink. 

"I tried Suzu, I really did!" Aisha moaned, and flopped down into a chair across from the assassin. She buried her face in her hands and meowed unhappily. 

"I was sure I could handle it," said Aisha. "But instead of getting better over the past year, it's just gotten worse!" She flopped her white-blonde head onto the table dramatically. "You said they'd be happy together, and you were right. They're so damn happy it's making me sick!" 

Suzuka reached out a hand and patted Aisha's back uncertainly. She wasn't really used to comforting people. Still, she supposed at a time like this it would be best to just let Aisha talk. 

"I see the way he looks at her, and I think to myself, 'why can't he look at me like that?'" Aisha continued, pulling at her bangs. "I'm jealous, Suzuka. Really jealous. And I've been asking myself what's wrong with me. What makes me so undesirable as a person that I can't even attract one flame-headed outlaw?"

Silence reigned for a few minutes. Aisha was staring off into space, leaning her elbows heavily on the table. The pain on her face was evident. Suzuka used an elegant finger to push her teacup over to the Ctarl-ctarl without looking directly at her. She wondered briefly if Gilliam was eavesdropping-- after all, he had eyes and ears (so to speak) all over the ship. Perhaps she'd have to have a little visit with him later; or rather, with his memory circuits.

Suzuka glanced at Aisha as the Ctarl finally picked up the teacup and swallowed the hot liquid in one gulp. "Melfina's my friend, so I can't hate her. But I can't take it anymore! It's not fitting for a proud Ctarl-ctarl to sit around wallowing in self-pity!" Her blue eyes were hurt, but resolute. "I won't do it anymore!" 

The assassin blinked, surprised. Aisha continued, "Do you understand now why I have to get outta here? Every minute I stick around is an insult to my pride! It's insulting to see them together! And it's insulting to hate myself for something I have no control over!" Aisha stood up, clenching her fists. "So I'm leaving!"

Suzuka looked up at her. If Aisha wasn't quiet she was going to wake the others up. "Well, I can see there's nothing I can do to stop you. But please, tell me this-- what exactly are you going to do once you _do _leave?"

"I'll go back to the Empire," Aisha said, nearly snarling in her determination. 

"And if--"

Aisha interrupted her. "If the Empire won't have me, I'll figure something out! I can make it on my own." She furrowed her eyebrows and glowered at the assassin. "Silly old Aisha, can't do a thing by herself. Well, I'm not helpless, you know! And I'm not stupid, either!"

Suzuka stood smoothly, the folds of her kimono-like nightgown falling around her ankles. "Aisha."

"What?!"

The assassin stepped forward and looked Aisha in the eye. "I know."

For a second they stood there, with a strange new understanding passing over them like a ripple on water. Finally Suzuka raised an eyebrow and pasted her usual indifferent look on her face. "If you must leave, then leave already," she said, turning her face away.

"I, uh--" Aisha stammered. Without warning she rushed forward and gave Suzuka a big, thankful, bone-crunching hug. "I'll miss you Suzu."

Suzuka was having a considerable amount of trouble breathing, seeing as how the strongest woman in the universe was currently squeezing the life out of her. She merely grunted in response.

Aisha let go and grabbed up her bag. "Tell Jimmy I'm sorry, okay? I mean, tell him I --"

"Go Aisha. Before you lose your nerve. I'll take care of it," said Suzuka, looking away again. 

"Bye," Aisha whispered. She opened the hull door and stepped out.

Suzuka crossed her arms and watched her go. "Don't get yourself killed, Aisha."

Aisha sorely wished she had listened to Suzuka and planned her actions better. She figured that the Empire wouldn't be much help and they weren't. Sure, they were impressed with her recount of her trip to the Galactic Leyline. But she hadn't brought anything back, had she? After learning that, they lost interest and only offered to let her have her old job as resident officer. Aisha stared at them incredulously. "I've been to the Galactice Leyline!" she screeched. "And you wanna put me back at a job that doesn't even pay enough to eat?" She let them know that she wasn't at all happy with that, and then, having basically no other choice, she took the job. She only requested that she be stationed anywhere besides Heiphong. Preferably far away.

And that's how she found herself on Tesla, a rather small planet with three moons. The purple planet was nearly half a galaxy away. She was _definitely _far from Heiphong. 

She was definitely hungry too. How did the other waitresses live on the tiny salary they got each week? "I guess if I was human I'd be happy with three tiny meals a day," she grumbled to herself as she left the casino/restaurant where she worked. "But I'm a growing Ctarl ctarl! And growing Ctarl-ctarls need a LOT of food, dammit!" A few people looked at her as she walked past. Aisha realized that she'd been ranting out loud and slowly put her fist down. Embarrassed, she pulled at the hem of the immodestly short skirt that served as a 'uniform' for the cocktail waitresses as the casino. Luckily the streets weren't too busy at this time of night, or rather, morning. Most of the partiers and gamblers had already retired, nursing pounding headaches or mourning empty wallets (or both). Aisha wished she could go out and party like other people her age got to, but she had to work. And a casino wasn't really a fun place when you had to serve dirty old men drinks while they ogled your ass. She sighed as she trudged back to her tiny apartment. That was something the Empire _had _done for her at least-- they were paying for her lodging, if you could call it that. The only good thing about the place was that it was located only about three blocks from the casino. Other than that it was dark, dreary, and smelled faintly of boiled cabbage, which usually just served to make Aisha hungrier. 

She stopped and looked up at the five-story apartment complex. On a whim, she turned to the left and resumed walking. Tired as she was, Aisha didn't want to go back there just yet. 

There were tiny shops and grungy clubs lining this street. She was reminded suddenly of the first time she'd encountered Jim, Melfina, and... Gene. He was a good fighter, he really was. Of course, she hadn't been quite up to par that day, but he had managed to get away from her twice. That in itself was admirable, but the fact that he managed to be so darn cute while he did it-- _Stop it Aisha, _she chided herself. _That's all over with now_. Still, she couldn't help but wonder how all of them were doing. She could picture them in her mind: Jimmy, typing away on his computer and yelling at Gene about debt. Gene would just be waking up, even though Melfina was already cooking lunch. _Mmm, lunch_. Aisha's stomach growled. She could picture Suzaka too, heading off mysteriously somewhere to catch a bounty.

A bounty?! Oh, that was perfect! That was the solution to her loudly growling stomach. A bounty meant easy, quick money. And that meant food! Aisha grinned. _Why didn't I think of that before_? She took off running down the street. There had to be a space police building somewhere.

Well, there you go. Hopefully, since you've already spent a bit of your time reading this, you'll spend a bit more of your time reviewing. (Hint hint!) In any case, any questions, comments, feedback, or corrections are welcome. Don't be _too _harsh though! 


	3. Chapter 3

Hello there... I'd like to apologize--Gomen! I've received complaints about not updating regularly. Yes, yes, I know. Three months is a damn long time to wait for a new chapter. (Covers head and begs for forgiveness) But try and understand I am but a poor student with LOTS of homework. Anyhow, to make up for it, I'm going to post another chapter on Sunday, and hopefully yet another a few days afterwards. Bear with me, people. This story might not be going in the direction you think it is....

***************************

"Hey!" Aisha yelled out. The receptionist looked up surprised from behind the counter as a Ctarl-ctarl woman came bursting through the door of the station, looking excited and therefore slightly feral. The male receptionist beside her backed up a few steps. 

Aisha strode up to the counter. "Any new bounties? I want the one with the highest price!"

"Um--uh," the man stammered. "We've uh, we've got a few--?" He'd never seen a Ctarl up close before, and was desperately hoping they couldn't smell fear.

"Well, come on!" Aisha was fairly bouncing in excitement. "Tell me already!"

The woman, whose nametag read Lola, looked over at her colleague with a raised eyebrow. It was obvious she was going to have to take over before he embarrassed them both and soiled the reputation of the Space Forces. "Give me a second, let me check the database." She noticed Aisha fidgeting in front of her. "First bounty, hon?"

"Not really," Aisha put her hand behind her head sheepishly. "Well, kinda. I mean, first one by myself."

Lola smiled to herself. "Well, here's one." She turned the screen around and showed Aisha an image of a smarmy-looking man. "Aldor Neese, a convicted thief. He escaped about a week ago. Wanted alive."

Aisha didn't care about any of that. She leaned in to look at the price. "Only ten thousand wong? That's not enough!"

"Not enough? Hon, for a first bounty that's really good."

"No, no, you don't understand," Aisha pouted as she felt her stomach trying to eat itself. "I need a bigger price than that. I gotta eat!"

Lola ran her hands over the keyboard. "If you insist, but-- oh, here's another. Charna Moriya, arsonist, thirty thousand wong."

"Anything higher?" asked Aisha hopefully. Lola shook her head incredulously but brought up more records. She sped past them quickly, one by one. 

"Wait! go back! What was that one?" 

The receptionist read from the screen, "Che Danvers. Crimes unknown. Bounty is two million wong."

"Now that's more like it!" Aisha scanned the rest of the information quickly. "Last seen in the Tesla area, crimes unknown, wanted alive, considered armed and dangerous, blah blah blah."

Lola peered around at the screen and looked up with worry. "Wait a minute, now. I remember hearing about this guy. He's one of the big boys. You can't just go after him alone! He's eluded capture for more than three years!"

"So that's why his bounty's so high," Aisha commented. "I was wondering about that. The guy looks like a real wuss."

"That's because that's not a recent picture. He doesn't look anything like that anymore. I should warn you he's gotten all sorts of implants and cybernetic additions since this was taken. I heard he's over six feet tall and weighs 300 pounds of pure muscle!"

Aisha grinned and flippantly waved her off. "Aw, I can handle it. I'm the strongest woman in the universe!" She flexed an arm muscle, causing the material of her elbow-length shirt to strain almost to breaking point. Lola raised an eyebrow. 

Aisha ignored the expression and squinted to memorize the fuzzy face of her new prey. Lank brown-green hair, dark grey eyes, a wide mouth and a short, almost cute face. He didn't look like a two million wong bounty head at all-- to tell the truth he just looked really nervous and itchy. "This'll be a piece of cake!" She whirled around to leave. "I'll be back soon! Thanks!"

"You be careful," Lola called as the Ctarl ran for the door. "You watch yourself!" Lola shook her head as she watched the girl run across the busy street without even looking. Kids these days-- where were their heads at? They thought they were all invincible...

"Jeez," the man beside her said, finally regaining the power of coherent speech. "Do you think we'll be seeing her again?"

Lola shrugged. "Maybe so, maybe not. But the hospital might be seeing her _real _soon." 

**************************

After four hours of walking about, Aisha decided that bounty hunting wasn't as easy as she'd first imagined. After all, most bounty heads were in hiding. She'd forgotten that she would actually have to find him before she could do the fun stuff. Now _that_, she'd planned for. After leaving the station, she'd rushed back to her apartment and changed into her regular clothes. Then she'd armed herself with her Ctarl-whip and a small but powerful handgun. (You didn't spend over a year on the Outlaw Star and not learn how to handle a piece.) And then, as a final precaution, she re-sharpened her already naturally pointy nails.

But now it seemed as though she'd wasted her time. Trudging past a spaceship parking garage, she sighed. _Guess I couldn't really expect Che Danvers to just show up at my apartment and ask to borrow a cup of sugar, could I? Looks like I'll never find him. _

Aisha was so busy thinking that she didn't notice the man walking towards her until she slammed into him. She promptly bounced right off of the man's considerable bulk and landed on her ass in the middle of the sidewalk. "Ow! Hey!" she yelled.

"Sorry," he grunted, and walked on.

__

Damn rude people, she grumbled to herself as she pulled herself to her feet and brushed herself off. _If I wasn't such a pleasant person I'd-- wait a minute_. Aisha rifled through her memory. Make the hair shorter, de-sink the cheeks, and add about 200 pounds... it was him! Aisha couldn't believe her good luck. _The Ctarl gods are smiling on me today! _she thought gleefully. She scrambled after him, careful not to be seen. 

Che Danvers, worth two million wong though he had never committed a serious crime in his life, walked briskly into bay of the indoor ship hangar. His plan was to stow away on someone's ship and get the hell off of Tesla. Word had it that there was already a bounty on him here too. So he was going to do exactly what he always did-- Run.

Che was a intimidating sight and he knew it. He also knew that it was all show. The height was his naturally, but the bulk and muscles had been added on with surgery. Che didn't really use them for anything physical. The fact that he had been able to avoid capture for three whole years wasn't due to them, and he knew that quite well too. It was pure luck, that's all. Pure luck and an uncanny ability to know when to run. 

Danvers walked as nonchalantly as he could past a trio of mechanics arguing over what to do with a strange-looking replacement part. The ground level of the garage was completely open so that supply and transport trucks could roll over the concrete floor without impediment. As it was still morning, the place wasn't exactly busy yet. There were only a few mechanics and techies running about, doing whatever mechanics and techies do. Che didn't pay them any mind. Instead he looked up and was quite pleased with what he saw.

Each of the four walls were lined with docking spaces for spacecraft. The middle of the hangar was open all the way to the uncovered roof, except for a complex criss-crossing pattern of metal walkways that connected the docks to each other. They also linked the levels together through means of stairs and mechanical ladders that could carry the rider either up or down. Danvers sucked in a relieved breath. The hangar wasn't full, but at least half of the spaces had ships in them. Surely he could find one to sneak on. He wandered up the metal stairs to the second level in the hangar, searching for a cargo ship large enough to hold him in its storage space. 

Danvers heard the clomping sound of feet behind him. Nobody with a brain walked that loudly unless they _wanted _to be heard. He turned around with dismay, hoping it was just a friendly mechanic. It wasn't. A small Ctarl-ctarl woman stood there, staring at him hungrily. He did _not _like the gleam in her eye. 

"You're Che Danvers," she said. It was not a question-- actually it sounded like an accusation. He didn't answer and didn't move. She nodded triumphantly. "Well, now you're mine." The Ctarl placed one hand on her hip and pointed at him with the other. "In the name of the Ctarl-ctarl empire, I'm placing you under arrest!"

He stared her up and down for a second. And then he turned and ran.

"Grrr-AAUGH!" Aisha roared. Human males were such cowards! But at least this time she knew that already, so she didn't waste much time being surprised. "Why do you outlaws always run? Get back here!!" She tore after him. 

Danvers was surprisingly fast for such a large man. He shot up a set of stairs and disappeared from sight for a second, but he wasn't hard to follow at all. The sound of his footfalls echoing on the metal walkway were as loud as gunshots to the Ctarl's sensitive ears. With her long, thick braid lashing behind her, Aisha reached for her Ctarl-whip. 

Then those aforementioned ears picked up something else. It was hard to discern with all the echoes bouncing off of the smooth steel walls, but it was there all the same. An echo of footsteps, almost in synchronization with that of her prey. 

__

Shit! Aisha thought, perking her ears almost straight up. _Does he have a partner_? She strained to hear, slowing down slightly. _Is it an ambush_? 

It was hard to tell, but she was pretty sure that the sounds were coming from her left side. _Think, Aisha, think! If you don't get this bounty, you don't eat!_

After a moment's deliberation, the Ctarl swerved suddenly to her left and clamored onto the railing, tucking her whip away. With a small grunt, she leaped up and caught the bottom edge of the next balcony. At times like this, being the strongest woman in the universe came in handy. She hauled herself up quickly, with almost no effort. She turned and crouched to peer over the edge.

There was Danvers, still running along the same pathway. He was moving considerably slower than he had been a few minutes ago. She could catch him easily. But there was indeed someone else there, though they were taking great caution to hide it. If her ears were right, and they usually were, the second runner would be underneath her in a matter of seconds, streaking in along a diagonal causeway.

As the footfalls grew louder, Aisha raised up a little bit and began to slink forward, moving quickly but keeping her body low. Danvers was lumbering toward an intersection now, and she bet that the second runner would meet him there. But if she got there first, she could kill to birds with one stone. Two bounties for the price of one! Aisha forced herself not to think of lobster. 

50 yards away now, 35, 20... She raised herself up a little bit and caught sight of a shadow almost directly underneath her. The echo runner was a little behind Danvers, and it didn't appear as though the bounty head had noticed him. Aisha frowned. Could it be that this person, whoever they were, was after him too? "Not if I have anything to say about it!" she growled. She grabbed the rail with her right hand and vaulted over. 

Danvers must have been awfully surprised when he looked up to see a pair of boots heading almost straight for his head. To his credit, he did have the presence of mind to get the hell out of the way. 

Aisha landed on all fours with a boom that set the whole walkway to vibrating. The sound of her hard-soled Ctarl-boots hitting metal sent a teeth-jarring clang reverberating back and forth through the hangar, almost drowning out Aisha's triumphant "Ha!" as she whipped out her gun and sprang up.

At the same moment, the second figure put on a sudden burst of speed and rushed up behind Danvers with his gun raised. He stopped dead in his tracks when Aisha dropped out the sky, however. 

Danvers stared with terror at the Ctarl-ctarl in front of him, then gaped over his shoulder at the tall man behind him. He was trapped between the gaping blackness of two gun barrels, each trained on his head. Che glanced back and forth between the two of them, hoping that he was worth more alive than dead. Slowly, he raised his hands. But neither of his hunters were looking at Danvers now. They were looking straight at each other. 

"YOU?!!" Aisha screeched.

"Damn!" Ron McDougal swore. 

Aisha automatically swept her gun to aim at McDougal, rethought it, and trained it back on her bounty, who was-- gone?! 

In that one moment of hesitation, Danvers acted. The large outlaw flung himself over the railing, down onto the back of a moving cargo truck below. He landed on the hard metal roof and rolled, but managed to hang on. 

"Hey!" Aisha yelled. "You can't do that!" Without thinking, she leaped over the railing too. McDougal looked on incredulously as she shrieked, "You're food for the next two weeks!"

Not being exactly knowledgeable about Ctarl-ctarl dietary habits, Che Danvers took that last statement entirely wrong. He couldn't really be faulted for that though; the wild look in Aisha's eyes would have been enough to convince anyone that she'd gladly rip an arm off and gnaw it like a drumstick.

Fortunately for him, even a Ctarl wasn't quite fast enough to catch up with a moving vehicle on foot, though Aisha was trying valiantly. Danvers grinned. He'd never been pursued by a Ctarl-ctarl before, but hey, they weren't so tough...

Meanwhile, Ron McDougal pounded furiously to the end of the walkway, surprising a couple of mechanics as he rushed past and hurtled towards a mechanical anti-gravity ladder. Devious and daring though he was, Ron was not about to hazard that drop. He was not, after all, a Ctarl-ctarl or a cyborg, and he liked being able to use his legs. He grabbed onto a rung with one hand and let the ladder carry him down. 

"Get back here!" Aisha screeched at Che. Still running, she pulled her gun from under her cloak and squeezed off a few shots at the top of the transport truck in pure frustration. Danvers pressed himself flat against the roof of the truck, and Aisha's shots flew harmlessly overhead. She didn't see Ron leap to the ground far ahead and run straight at the vehicle. He sped out right in front of it and aimed his gun at the driver, who simultaneously swerved and pissed his pants. 

The truck cut sharply to the side just as Aisha took a flying leap at it with the hopes of maybe wrapping her hands around Che's neck. The vehicle rose up precariously on its two left wheels, then tipped and slammed onto its side. It skidded back towards the Ctarl, the friction of the metal body on the metal floor creating a shower of sparks that followed in the truck's path. 

"Yeeek!!" Aisha shrieked, but luckily her momentum carried her straight over the wreckage. She landed and tucked into a roll to reduce the force of the impact. 

The sparks had caused flames to spring up on the debris. Aisha looked carefully through them and saw an arm. She recognized the awful plaid pattern as Danver's shirt. Rushing forward with glee, she grabbed it by the elbow and tugged him to his feet. "In the name of the Ctarl-ctarl Empire, I hereby place you under arrest!" she repeated triumphantly. The truck driver unearthed himself from the cab, took one look at her, and ran. 

Danvers wheezed out, "Truck-- gonna-- explode--"

"And now to collect-- huh?" The Ctarl girl stared at her bounty.

A red flash sped in from nowhere and grabbed Danvers other arm. Che was jerked to the side, and because Aisha still had a firm grip on his arm, she was dragged away too. 

"McDougal! What do you think you're doing?!" she howled as she ran/was hauled along by Danvers, who was running/being pulled by Ron. "He's my bounty! Hands off!" 

Ron ignored her of course, which of course made her angrier. But before she could yell anything else, the truck behind them went up in a ball of flames. 

The shockwave sent the trio into the air. Aisha squinted her eyes shut against the sudden blast of heated wind that whipped past them, but didn't let go of Danvers. They landed hard in a heap of arms, legs, and hair. 

"Oooww," Aisha groaned, blinking slowly. She suddenly became aware of the horribly uncomfortable position she'd landed in. Danvers bare foot was almost directly in her face, his boots blown off from the explosion. Her left leg was pinned underneath his armpit, and her right was flung up into the air. Not only that, but a heavy arm was resting on her chest. Aisha glanced over to find McDougal's head down by her hip. Ron made the mistake of stirring, which caused his arm to drag across the Ctarl's rather large chest in a very friendly way.

"Aauugh! Hentai! Pervert!" She started kicking and punching, without caring in particular who she hit. Ron managed to scramble up and out of the way, but Danvers got a boot directly in the face. He let out a strangled "Gahh!" as the cartilage in his already crooked nose crunched. 

McDougal ducked, narrowly dodging a brown fist. He rolled out of the way, stood, and snapped out, "Stop it!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Aisha ranted, and she snatched up one of Danvers's boots and flung it at Ron's head. "Dirty hentai!"

The outlaw moved coolly out of the way and the shoe whizzed past his ear. He stepped towards Aisha and the cowering Danvers and towered over them both. "Get over yourself, little girl," he said scornfully. "You're not even worth my time." Ron's arm sped down like lightening and he grabbed Danvers by his forearm. The dazed bounty head allowed himself to be pulled up without resistance, legs and arms wobbling like he was a marionette on strings. 

__

Little girl?! Aisha's face, meanwhile, had gone from its usual chocolate through a whole progression of increasingly red shades. Her mouth stretched back into a wordless snarl and she scrambled up, seizing Danvers's other arm in a grip of iron. 

"Back off, Ctarl. You don't wanna mess with me." He yanked on Che's arm. 

"_Let go of my bounty_," Aisha growled deep in her throat. She pulled on his other arm. Poor Danvers was in serious danger of being ripped in half. Neither bounty hunter seemed at all inclined to give up and let go. Past the pain of his squished nose, Danvers could feel the tendons in his armpits and shoulders being stretched to the breaking point. He let out a little whimper. 

Ron's amber eyes sparked, then narrowed. "Fine. If that's the way you want it." Contemptuously he threw Danvers's arm down and backed up a few steps.

Aisha blinked, surprised. Was that it? He was just giving up?

McDougal reached into his coat and pulled out his oversized Castor. He held the long blaster casually in one hand and lifted it to aim directly at Aisha's stomach. The two huge gold rings at the barrel of the odd-looking weapon spun against one another as the gun powered up, making cheerful jangling noises. 

Aisha's eyes went wide and she had just enough time to think, _Oh shit _before the blast came at her in a flash of blinding blue. 

*****************

And there you have it... so tell me what you think! Just a note-- if you do me the courtesy of reviewing my story, there's a good chance I'll return that favor and go review yours. Give and take, right? And thanks to those who have already!


	4. Chapter 4

Ha! Look at this-- an update that didn't take a month! I love dead week... Anyway, a lot of you are asking if I'm eventually going to make this an Aisha/Gene story. That's a good question-- and not one that I'm going to answer. Sorry! I will tell you that I haven't planned on it, but anything's possible. But Aisha's got to _have _some action (plot-wise) before she _gets _some action (booty-wise). For character development and all that. Stick with me!

For the second time that day, Aisha woke up groaning. She could smell-- smoke? Ew. The acrid scent of burning metal and flesh assaulted her sensitive Ctarl-ctarl senses. She wrinkled up her nose without opening her eyes. Someone was tentatively shaking her shoulder. "Hey. Hey!"

Aisha groaned again and slowly cracked open a blue eye. Above her she could make out the hazy outline of person. She jerked and her other eye flew open. It took a moment for her eyes to uncross, but when they did she saw that it wasn't, as she'd thought, McDougal. Or worse, a cop.

A young woman with bright violet eyes and skin a shade darker than Aisha's leaned over her, looking worried. "You have to get up," she whispered urgently. 

"Huh?"

"The cops are coming! If you don't wanna get blamed for this, you have to get out of here!"

"Oh, no!" Aisha quickly sat up, and instantly regretted it. The floor tilted back up to meet her. She slumped back down. The concrete was cool against her cheek, and she just wanted to go back to sleep...

The other woman yanked at her arm and managed to pull Aisha to her feet with an almost inhuman strength. She threw Aisha's arm around her shoulder and began to haul her away. Aisha, limp as a wet noodle, simply let herself be dragged. 

The burning smell was still assaulting her nose. Aisha sniffed a couple of times before she realized that it was coming from herself. She looked down to see a huge charred starburst on her front. While Ctarl-ctarl skin was easily thick enough to repel a Castor blast, the clothing, though durable, was not as resilient. Aisha's outfit was basically ruined. _Damn that McDougal_!

"McDoug--" Aisha started to screech, but the other girl clapped a hand over her mouth. "Shh! If anybody sees us around here, we're both toast!"

Aisha's legs were tingling now, beginning to get the feeling back in them after the numbing effects of the Castor attack. She took a few wobbly steps, still leaning heavily on the girl. She finally took a good look at her. She was dressed in a mechanic's uniform, a drab dark grey coverall with a matching hat and a faded nametag. The hat was pulled down strangely far on her head, though a few orange curls escaped out from underneath it. She looked a bit younger than Aisha, and indeed she was also shorter. However, none of that seemed to affect her strength. She'd picked the Ctarl up as though she were a rag doll.

"Daja," Aisha said, reading the name off the tag, "why are you helping me?"

"I know what it's like to get blamed for something just because of what you are," Daja answered. She reached up and lifted her hat off of her head. Now Aisha could clearly see the mop of wild coppery hair. Daja shook her head and her ears, which had been flattened against the side of her head, snapped out like wings. They were long, pointy, and covered with fur. "I'm half Ctarl."

Aisha almost fell over from shock. "Is that possible?" she asked.

"I'm standing here, aren't I?" Daja replied jokingly, stuffing her hat into her deep back pocket. 

The half-Ctarl, half human girl led Aisha into a small lobby area. By now Aisha could walk, but she sank gratefully into an uncomfortable looking plastic chair and sighed. Daja bustled away and came back with a jug of water and a large crate. She set them down on a low table in front of Aisha, opened the box and begin digging around in it. Aisha pricked up her ears as Daja took out a large hero sandwich, then a bunch of bananas, then a large ham. The Ctarl's stomach gave a loud, insistent rumble. She hadn't seen food like that since before she'd left the Outlaw Star. 

"Here," Daja said, still unloading more food. "Here's most of my lunch. It should be enough to get you back on your feet."

Aisha gave her an insanely thankful look and attacked the food with relish. Small and cramped as the room was, she felt more comfortable here than she had been in days. There was another door opposite from the one they had entered from, with a small window above it. Luckily it was the only window in the room. A bit of bluish-green sky was visible through the glass. Aisha took this all in within a matter of seconds, far too concerned with eating than paying too much attention to her surroundings. She gnawed through a large Ctarl-style beef brisket, disregarding the bones. 

Daja watched her with interest. "Somebody who eats more than me, finally. There aren't too many Ctarl-ctarl's out this far," she said, as Aisha stuffed two bananas into her mouth without peeling them first. After a moment she spat the peels onto the table. They landed with a wet thump. "The humans don't trust us much. If any of the bosses around here saw you anywhere near that mess, you'd be in jail in a blink, no questions asked. Are you an outlaw?"

"Gllmmph," Aisha tried to speak around a mouthful of bread and finally just nodded. She'd never thought that a plain Terran food like a sandwich could taste so good!

"You're lucky," Daja continued, picking up a scaly fish head to give it an experimental lick. "Outlaws can do whatever they want, when they want. I'd kill to be free like that." The girl swallowed the fish head whole, without bothering to chew.

The Ctarl-ctarl paused with a huge Thermos of soup halfway to her mouth. "It's really not that great." With three gulps she downed the hot soup and wiped her mouth off with her arm. "Aaahh! This is the first decent food I've had in two days!"

"You're kiddin' me," Daja said, leaning forward eagerly. 

Aisha shook her head, patting her stomach. That had been a decent snack-- for now. She leaned back into the chair and answered, "No kidding. I don't have any money, so if I don't catch bounties, I don't eat. I don't even have my own ship! If I did, I'd be chasing McDougal right now for butting in on my bounty." She sighed. "There goes my meal ticket."

Daja took out her hat and spun it around on her finger. "Well, those guys you were after didn't get into a ship."

"Did he have a car? A big red one?"

"Nope!" Daja said. "The guy in red was on foot, dragging the big guy with him. But I heard the red guy tell the other not to piss him off before they got back to the ship, or he'd sterilize him."

"What?!" Aisha leaped up from her chair, upsetting the box. Luckily it only had a few stray fish heads in it anyway. Daja looked up at the Ctarl with surprise. 

"He's taking him back to his ship? Then maybe," Aisha's eyes lit up, "I can still catch him and get my bounty back!" She shrugged on her cloak over her charred clothes and rushed for the door. "Thanks for the food, Daja, but I have to go!" In her excitement she nearly ripped the door off of its hinges as she threw it open.

Daja ran up behind her. "Take a left," she advised. "Nobody's ever out back. All you have to do is hop the fence and you're home free."

Aisha gave her another grateful look and sped away. 

"Hey! If you ever get a ship, come find me! I'm a great mechanic!" Daja called. Aisha half turned as she ran and flashed the girl a victory sign. 

***************************

Aisha didn't waste any time. She vaulted over the fence with ease and sped down the street. The lunchtime crowds parted like the Red Sea to let the Ctarl race through. In her haste she nearly bowled over an old lady who couldn't get out of the way fast enough. At the last possible second, she leaped over the stooped back of the old woman, calling out, " 'Scuze me! Gomen!" The lady craned her neck and peered upwards, but by that time, Aisha was already far down the street. She moved with the confidence of a woman on a mission. She'd had an idea. 

Three minutes later she burst through the service door at the back of the casino into the tiny break room. It was occupied by three waitresses lounging around on the old moth-eaten couches. "Hey, Aish!" one of the girls called out, looking up from her romance manga. "You're here early. I thought your shift didn't start until night."

"You know they don't pay overtime here," another girl said, giving Aisha an odd look. Aisha skittered to a stop as she realized how crazy she must look running around with half her clothes burned off. She veered left into a storage closet and yanked out one of the skimpy green tube tops the casino girls had to wear. She jerked the charred top off and pulled it on as she ran back out into the break room, racing past the others. 

"I'm just here to check something," Aisha called over her shoulder, and shot through another doorway into a silent hallway. Now, where was that control room? Oh right... upstairs and to the left. 

She stopped in front of the control room door to catch her breath. _I really don't wanna do this_, she groaned to herself as she patted her hair down and adjusted her clothes. _But it's not just a bounty anymore. Now it's personal-- I'm gonna get McDougal back_! With new resolve, she tossed off her cape and threw her shoulders back. _I don't have any choice-- I need information!_

She started to just go in without knocking, but thought better of it. Who knew what that little pervert was doing in there? Aisha raised a fist and tapped lightly on the control room door.

"Uh-- j-just a minute! Hold on!" 

Aisha rolled her eyes to the ceiling. _Why does he even bother? Everybody knows he's in there downloading porn_! After a minute the voice called out, "Okay! You can come in now!"

Saying a silent prayer to the Ctarl gods that she wouldn't puke, Aisha pulled the door open and slid into the large control room. "Hiya, Brian," she purred.

Sitting in front of a large computer terminal, the skinny young man almost fell out of his chair when he saw Aisha standing there grinning at him coyly. "Um, uh-- h-h-hello, A-Aisha," he stuttered, swiveling around to face her.

"Jeez Bri," Aisha said, slinking towards him with plenty of wiggle in her hips. "Look at all the computers in here! And you control them _all_. That's so _impressive_." She stopped in front of him. "You know, I find a man with brains very attractive."

Brian raised a sweaty hand and pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Heh," he tried to chuckle, but it only came out as a nervous croak. "Y-you do?"

"Yeah," said Aisha, inwardly grimacing. She couldn't believe she was doing this! _I don't have time to stand around and-- blech-- flirt!_ she decided. _I need to get right to the point. _"There aren't enough of you guys around here." _Psshh! Whatever_! "You know what else there aren't enough of?" Aisha cocked her hip and put her hand on it.

"Whuh-what's that?"

"Nice guys," she crooned. "Are you a nice guy, Brian?"

The poor guy didn't have a chance. He let out a high pitched giggle. "S-sure I'm a nice guy."

"Then will you do me a favor, Bri?" Aisha leaned towards him. 

"Favor?" His face was turning red. "What kind of favor?

"I need a little information."

Now his eyebrows started to furrow. "Wait, what are you talking about? You're not trying to get me to cheat the casino, are you?" He looked at her suspiciously.

"Of course not! This has nothing to do with the casino! I just need you to find a ship for me."

The suspicious look on Brian's face developed some slyness. "Really?"

__

Oh for crying out loud-- I don't have time for this! "Listen Brian. I'm in a hurry, okay?" She let a dangerous edge creep into her voice and roughly swiveled his chair back around so that he faced the computer. "I know you're a hacker. That's why your uncle gave you this job. So just get on the computer and work your magic! Find the damn El Dorado!"

"But I--"

Aisha sucked in a deep breath, trying not to think about what she was going to do next. "Do you mind if I sit down?" She moved around and perched herself on Brian's knees, making sure he got an eyeful of her chest in the process. He gawked at her. "Well?" she asked.

Brian gulped. He reached his arms around her and poised his fingers over the keyboard. "Th-the El D-dorado?" 

"Or the Shangri-La. And if you can't find anything there, try the name McDougal." She thought for a second. "No, wait. He's not dumb enough to use his own name. Try Harry--" _what was that name he was using at the space race_? "Harry William!"

"Gotcha," Brian said, and he was all confidence now. Within minutes he had broken into the records of 5 of the 7 Tesla hangars. Aisha watched him with newfound respect. People like that just amazed her. She'd always been intrigued every time Jimmy hacked into some high security connection or created a virus to disable another ship. She started to smile, but thoughts of Jimmy inevitably led to thoughts of Gene. Aisha mentally slapped herself. _Come on back to the present where you belong, Aisha_! She glanced over at Brian. Maybe it had been sort of cruel to manipulate him like this, but he wouldn't have done it otherwise. "Hey, Brian--"

"Almost there," he hissed through his teeth, totally absorbed in his hacking. "Almost, almost-- ahh, there!" He poked at an entry triumphantly. "Level 3, dock 19, under the name Harry William. And you're in luck. It's nearby--Sector E, 21st Street Garage."

"Nya!" Aisha shrieked joyously. "Brian, you're the best! I could kiss you--"

Brian instantly lost interest in the screen. "Really?!"

"But not right now!" Aisha bounced off his lap and out the door before he could get another word out.

**************************

Level 3, dock 19, Aisha repeated to herself for the 50th time. _Level 3, dock 19_. Stealthily she climbed up another set of steps. Now she was on level 3, so her mantra simply became _dock 19, dock 19_. This garage was much like the last, except smaller. The parking spaces were a bit more cramped. She passed dock 14, then 15. _Please be there_, she prayed to the most Supreme Ctarl god. She slowed as she came to docks 17 and 18. _Please, just let that stupid, ugly ship be there_.

Wonder of wonders; when she peered into the space of dock 19, she saw the wickedly pointed nose of the McDougals' ship. She would have let out one of her triumphantly delighted shrieks, except she saw a tell-tale flash of red. Aisha backpedaled and concealed herself the shadows beside the bulk of the ship in dock 18. For one tense moment, she wasn't quite sure if Ron was getting off or getting onto the ship. He stood before the door, typing in a key code. She watched, mentally memorizing the numbers. If he was getting on, then she was getting on too, dammit! There was no way she was going to loose this bounty now! 

Ron stepped away from the door and hopped down to the ground. _Is he leaving_? But no, he seemed content to stay where he was, leaning casually against the side of the El Dorado and smoking a cigarette. Aisha glared at him. No doubt he had Danvers locked up somewhere in the ship already, all packaged and ready to turn in to-- wait a minute. Why hadn't he gone straight to the space police station as soon as he had Danvers? Why did he need to bring him back to his ship?

Before she could ponder that issue too far, McDougal straightened and moved around to the back of the ship. Aisha took a huge gamble and skittered out from underneath ship 18. She dove underneath the front of the El Dorado and melted into the shadows there. All the ships were, of course, suspended slightly in the air, so Aisha had no problem in wriggling further underneath. She planned on taking Ron by surprise with a sneak attack from behind. If he was out of the picture then his pansy-assed brother would pose no threat. Aisha slithered all the way to the back of the ship and was just reaching for Ron's ankles when he spoke.

"I don't think so."

Aisha froze before she realized, with a great rush of relief, that he wasn't talking to her. She peered up at him from her uncomfortable position. McDougal had a two-way in his hand, quietly conversing with someone on the receiving end. "No, I don't think he knows. I don't wanna get his hopes up, since we've been having some bad luck lately."

Aisha pulled her hands back. _Damn_! He could be talking to anybody, including someone nearby who could cause her trouble if she attacked right now. But eavesdropping proved to be rather interesting. 

"If all goes well, this should be it. This Danvers guy is worth way more than those idiotic space police are offering if you know the right people. Turns out he's got a lot of secrets in his head that some of the bosses on his home planet are just dyin' to get their hands on." He paused to listen, then chuckled. "No, it's _not _gonna be pretty once they get hold of him. If he's lucky they'll kill him quick after they find out what they want, and the Delrians never do that. They don't joke around." Ron said this as simply as though he was talking about the weather. The other person spoke, but Aisha couldn't hear what he was saying. "Yeah, well, we won't worry about that right now, Leo," Ron replied. "Just make sure you're at the rendezvous point next week." Another pause. "Right. I'm going to go get it now. See ya then."

__

No! Aisha thought angrily. _Don't cut off! What are you gonna get? Where? _It was too late. Ron cut off the link and flicked his cigarette away. Aisha scooted backwards and pressed herself to the ground as he walked to the front of the ship and out of the dock. Ron was out of sight within seconds.   
Aisha came slowly out from under the ship and debated whether she should follow him or not. It was obvious that he had something else up his sleeve but there was no telling whether it would be more lucrative or not. After a moment she decided to stick with the original plan-- get Danvers and get the money. Besides, Harry would probably be a lot easier to deal with. As far as Aisha remembered, he was skinny and never fought for himself. She grinned and cracked her knuckles as she turned back to the ship. 

'K, that may have seemed anti-climatic, but it all comes into play later. I've got grand designs for this story! Read and Review, tell me what you think. All questions, comments, criticisms, etc. are welcome! 


	5. Chapter 5

Ooo.... wonder of wonders, after a long, LONG hiatus, I'm back! Don't be mad, there are reasons that I left this story (and most of my others) chillin' on the backburner for so long. But I will try (TRY, mind you) to update more than once every year or so giggles sheepishly. 

Anyway, on with the story! 

Aisha cautiously climbed up the steps to the ship's airlock. After peering around to make sure no one was looking, she punched in the code that she had seen Ron use. The door slid open silently. Aisha stepped inside and made her way down a dark corridor, heading towards a lit room at the end that she figured was the cockpit. _That's where the brother will be_, she thought excitedly, ready for a fight. She could hear the beeps and clicks of machinery working as she reached the room. Aisha snuck up carefully behind the pilot's chair and then jumped over the top of it, intending to pounce on the younger McDougal and take him by surprise. There was no one in it; Aisha's Saigon-kick attack dropped her heavily into the seat instead. She winced and rubbed at her butt, then looked down to find Harry McDougal's face staring directly at her from the vid screen of the pilot's controls. 

"Aaauugghh!!"

"Aaauugghh!!"

The two screams rang out simultaneously, echoing around the empty interior of the cockpit. She wasn't expecting him to suddenly appear like that! Aisha cut her shriek off and clamped her hands over her ears. On the screen in front of her, the face of Harry McDougal continued yelling.

"Shut up!" Aisha bellowed, a bit of a snarl edging her voice. "Why in the hell are you still yelling?!"

Harry stopped and glared at her. "Because you startled me!" 

"Well, you startled me too! You don't just pop up on someone like that!"

Harry looked at her like she was stupid. "It's my ship!"

"Mya," said Aisha uninterestedly, already bored with him. She hopped up and wandered over to the glass, peeking down and out to the hangar outside the ship. Good-- there didn't seem to be anyone around. She didn't want any innocent bystanders nearby, just in case she had to make some trouble. 

"I know you," the computer continued to speak behind her. "You're that Ctarl-ctarl woman that was running around with Ge--"

"Yeah, that was me," she interrupted forcefully, not wanting to hear his name out loud. "But not anymore." Aisha moved around so that she could see the younger McDougal on the screen. He frowned at her, tucking some hair behind his ear.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, but then checked himself. "Hell, what am I doing? I don't care. I'm calling Ron."

Aisha smirked at him. "Go right ahead, human. It doesn't matter at all. Ron's long gone by now. No matter where he is, it'll take him at least 15 minutes to get back here." She flipped her long pale braid haughtily and continued, "Now why don't you be a good boy and tell me where Danvers is?"

"Who do you think you are?" Harry asked angrily, voice starting to creep up in pitch and volume. "You can't come onto my ship and order me around!"

"Why not?" The Ctarl put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "I seem to remember you doing that to a good friend of mine!" Aisha was on the verge of yelling. 

Harry's normally youthful, handsome features contorted into a mask of rage. He snarled, "You don't know anything about it! Melfina--"

"Shut up!!" Aisha cut him off. She reached out to the console and roughly started jabbing buttons with her finger. Harry's image wavered, then split up and disappeared as the screen went blank. "Ha! So there!" she crowed triumphantly. 

The screen suddenly sprang back to life. Harry sneered up at her, narrowing his purple eyes. "You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" he sneered. 

Aisha snarled at his triumphant expression. "You better be glad I'm in a good mood, otherwise I'd--"

This time Harry interrupted her. "You'd what? I'm not scared of you, Ctarl! You can't hurt me!"

"GggrrrraaAAHH! I can't hurt you? We'll see about that!" Roaring in pure rage, Aisha whirled around and gave the computer a thundering roundhouse kick, then another, then another. 

"Hey! What are you doing?! Stop!" Harry's image screamed. 

"SHUT UP!" She balled up her hands and smashed both of her fists down on the console. It started to crackle and spark. Harry fuzzed up, still screaming at Aisha to stop. His voice cut off as the screen snowed over. 

"Aaarrr!" Aisha snarled, giving the ruined machine a final kick. "Never challenge a Ctarl-ctarl!" Giving a final derisive glance at the smoking mass of crunched metal and loose sparking wires, she turned to leave the cockpit. "Now to find Danvers!"

In smashing Harry's console she had done herself another favor. Many of the computer-run locks and safety mechanisms on the ship had been disabled. The sliding metal doors were all open as she trotted down the central corridor of the Shangri-La. Most were storage rooms, but five doors down on the left she caught a glimpse of something on the ground. 

Cautiously she stepped into the darkened room, then grinned. Sure enough, there was Che Danvers, hogtied and gagged on the floor. He had been attempting to wriggle towards the suddenly opened door when a shadow fell across his face. Slowly his eyes traveled up-- over a pair of tall boots, to maroon leggings, a nicely filled top, and finally to the exultant face of that Ctarl-ctarl woman. If his mouth hadn't been blocked, he would have screamed bloody murder.

"Danvers!" Aisha crowed. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

Che changed direction, squirming his way back into the room away from the cat-woman. Aisha just grinned and followed him. "Don't make this difficult, Danvers. You're mine!"

Danvers tried to say something, but it came out as, "Oomp eek ee!" around the tight gag. 

"What?" Aisha stared at him. She bent down and pulled the gag out of his mouth. "What did you say?"

"Don't eat me!" he gasped out.

Aisha cocked her head to the side and gave him an incredulous look. "Eat you?" She laughed and poked at him with her index finger. "I guess I could. You've got plenty of meat on you!"

Danvers wiggled backwards some more and realized that he had effectively trapped himself with his back to a crate. "Help! Somebody help me!" he hollered.

Quick as lightening Aisha leaped forward and shoved the gag back in his mouth. "You idiot! I'm not gonna eat you! You're worth good money!" She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and hefted him up. "Don't make this difficult!" she repeated in a growl. "Think about it! It's either me or McDougal. You're screwed either way. McDougal's taking you back to your home planet, and there are a lot of people there who'd be really _glad _to see you. I'm just after your Tesla bounty. At least with me you probably won't end up dead! So don't make a fuss, cuz you're coming with me NOW!"

With that, Aisha scooped Danver's up underneath her arm and stalked out of the storage room. That hadn't been so hard! And once she got the money, she was going straight to the first seafood restaurant she could find. "Lobster, lobster," she sang, clomping triumphantly back down the hall towards the cockpit. "I'm gonna eat lobster!" 

Aisha grinned widely at the ruined computer as she passed it and aimed a victory sign in its direction. "Lobster," she crowed, "and shrimp! Yum!" 

Three feet away from the door, it suddenly shuddered to life and slid shut. "Hey!"

The console crackled. "--override---system---manual control--" a static-y, detached voice said. 

"What?!" Aisha stared around wildly, noticing for the first time that there was another screen hanging from the ceiling behind the pilot's chair. Harry's image blinked to life on it. 

Harry spoke again, stronger now. "You're (crackle) not going (pop) anywhere."

Aisha let out a howl. "DAMN!" She hiked Danvers more securely underneath her arm and kicked viciously at the door. "Let me out! Let me out!"

From the other side of the metal door came another, deeper voice. "Harry! Harry, let me in, hurry!"

"Yeek!" Aisha screeched, and her ears flattened back. "It's the brother!"

The sounds of Ron pounding his fist against the door echoed throughout the cockpit. "Are you all right in there? Let me in, hurry! I've got some jackals on my tail!"

Immediately the door shot open. Ron tried to rush in as Aisha tried to rush out. They ran smack into each other. Aisha's heavy load put her off balance, and she fell backwards, Ron falling with her. Che rolled away, but Ron landed directly on top of Aisha. "Aauugh! Get off me!" she shrieked. _What is with this pervert?!_

Ron bellowed, "Shut the door!" Luckily they had fallen into the ship. The door whisked closed, but not before Aisha caught a glimpse of a gang of men rapidly climbing up the stairs and scaffolding of the hangar. 

Aisha scrambled up and started banging her fists on the door. "Noooooo! Let me out!" Meanwhile, Ron stared around at the mess that had been his cockpit. Danvers, forgotten in a heap on the floor, simply tried to remain as quiet and unnoticeable as possible. 

"What the hell happened here?" Ron snarled at no one in particular.

"_She _happened!" Harry answered angrily. Aisha paid no attention to either of them. Something large and heavy suddenly hit the door from the outside, knocking her back. The door shuddered, but didn't give. The Ctarl decided it might be time to find a different exit. She turned to find Harry (on screen) and Ron (in the flesh) glowering at her. "Heh heh," she chuckled sheepishly. "Um, hi?"

Luckily for her, another resounding boom shook the cockpit. Whoever it was, they weren't playing around. "We don't have time for this," Ron yelled, running over to the console. "Harry, can you get us out of here?"

"I don't know. I'll try, but that psycho cat-bitch ripped out a lot of my main controls. The engines--"

Ron interrupted, "What's that beeping noise?"

"Huh? Oh... oooh shit," Harry said distractedly. "Shit! The starboard airlock door is malfunctioning. It's unlocked!"

Aisha, who had been about to erupt again after being called a "psycho cat-bitch", saw opportunity knock. She scooped up Danvers and took off running, calling over her shoulder, "Don't worry boys, I'll lock up for you on my way out!"

"You-- hey!!" Ron raced after her. 

Aisha pounded down a hallway. There it was! She could see the door ahead of her, and the control panel on the wall beside it. She leaped, stretched her free arm as far as it would go. Her hand slapped the large square button. Triumph! The control flashed green and the door slid open--

to reveal a man in a ripped muscle shirt leveling a huge bazooka straight at her. 

__

Not again!

She heard a thunk behind her and the door whooshed shut again. Her relief was short-lived however; because Ron lifted the gloved hand that had slapped the button and cuffed her across the back of her head. Aisha let out a surprised snarl as she hit the floor. Danvers flew in the opposite direction, wishing he'd never gotten out of bed that morning.

Ron curled his lip and took a pair of pliers from his jacket. He busied himself rigging up a temporary electric lock on the door control. He didn't notice the Ctarl moving on the floor until a pair of feet locked around his neck from behind. Hands planted firmly on the floor, Aisha had flipped herself up to trap McDougal in her infamous upside down headlock. 

"No one," she snarled, "hits Aisha and gets away with it!" With a roar she tossed him up and over her, away from the door. He landed with a painful sounding thud and Aisha scrambled up. 

But Ron obviously wasn't one to take things lying down either. As Aisha went for the door again, he dove at her knees and pulled her down. They grappled for a moment, an odd assortment of snarls, growls, and curses issuing from the pair. Danvers had long ago decided to just sit back and watch-- there wasn't much else he could do.

"Let me go! Let me the hell off of this ship!" Aisha howled.

"Stop it, you crazy--" 

Aisha kicked him in the mouth. Ron caught her foot and held it with a grip of iron. "I want you off this ship more than you do, but if you open that door again, we're all gonna get killed!"

Aisha wrenched her foot free. "I'm not a part of this!"

"Are you stupid? Do you really think they'll let you just waltz out of here? As far as they know, you're with us!" 

The Ctarl stopped for a moment. In the sudden silence she could hear the engines powering up. Aisha let out a string of words so foul that even Ron was impressed. 

"Ron? Where are you? I need you up front!" Harry's desperate voice rang out. 

The older McDougal glared at Aisha, then grabbed her arm and pulled her up with him. 

"What are you doing?!"

"I'm not letting you out of my sight. Come on!"

Harry didn't seem pleased when Ron appeared dragging an enraged Aisha behind him. "Cut it, Harry," Ron snapped. "We have more important things to deal with right now." 

The Ctarl stuck her tongue out petulantly at the blue-haired man on the screen. "Ron!" Harry started, but stopped when he saw the look on his brother's face.

"You!" Ron barked at Aisha. "Sit down right there, and stay out of my way!" He swung her to the portside navigator's seat. 

"Don't tell me what to do!" Aisha shrieked.

"Fine!" Ron yelled back. "Sit where you want to! Sit on the damn floor for all I care! Just stay the hell out of my way!" McDougal turned to his controls, eye twitching. Aisha crossed her arms and grumbled a bit, but stayed put. 

There you go! I'll try to have the next one out in a week. Questions, comments, criticisms, etc. are as usual welcome. Laterz! 


	6. Chapter 6

You know, I noticed something-- there's a lot of yelling in this story....

Eh, anyway. My new goal in life (one of them, anyway) is to update on one story or another every two weeks or so. Seriously. Life's crazy right now, but I think I can do it....yeah. So, thanks to all who have reviewed-- please keep doing so!

Standard disclaimers apply. On with it!

"Harry, what's going on?" Ron asked, rapidly pressing buttons on his control panel. "I can't see anything out there. Bring up the outside screen."

"It's broken. You'll only be able to see out of the front windshield," the disembodied voice came from Aisha's side of the controls. "There's audio, but I don't know if you wanna hear it. We're about to break out of this hangar."

Aisha was busy wondering where in the hell Harry's body was. He was a bio-android like Melfina, wasn't he? Shouldn't he be naked in a tube of goo somewhere? _Ew_. She flipped her braid contemptuously and decided not to worry about it. It wasn't like she was going to ask either of _them_. 

Ron said, "I'm opening all channels, brother. I need to know what's going on."

__

Bang! Boom!! Thud, thud, thud...

Ron shook his head in annoyance. "What the hell are they trying to do?! Do these idiots really think they can break into this ship with a half dozen bazookas?"

"They've been trying for a while now," Harry replied. "I say we blow them up. We've got enough firepower."

"No time," Ron brought up an ammo inventory and frowned. "These guys travel in packs. They'll have more ships somewhere, fully loaded. We need to go, _now_."

Harry didn't answer, but the engines roared again. The floor shuddered as the El Dorado pulled against the clamp holding the ship in place from above. 

"Idiots!" Aisha curled her lip. "That isn't gonna work! If this were the Outlaw Star, maybe, but not with a piece of shit ship like this!"

"Shut up!" Harry's voice blared from the console in front of her.

Aisha leapt up and raised her fist threateningly. "Don't you tell me to shut up!!" she shrieked. "I'll-- yeek!"

Ron grabbed her arm and dragged her back down into the chair. "You'd better strap yourself in," he growled at her. 

Aisha ripped her arm away. "What's the use? We're not going anywhere." She and Ron glared at each other for a moment, neither one willing to blink or look away. 

__

Rrrrreeeeeeeek! There was the awful screeching sound of metal being wrenched apart. Aisha clamped her hands over her highly sensitive ears and snarled in pain. She could feel the ship straining to break free of its constraints, pulling and jerking. The force created extra pressure in the cabin, and her ears popped. _Why does this seem oddly familiar_? 

"Come on, Harry!" Ron yelled, rapidly pressing buttons. "Get us out of here!"

With a sudden teeth-clenching jolt the ship was free. It shot straight up into the air with a speed that made Aisha squeeze her eyes shut. 

"Now what?" Harry shouted. "Somebody noticed that something's going on! The garage is being sealed-- the roof's gonna close!"

"Take it back down," Ron ordered. "There's a huge garage door on the second level for the trucks. They won't think of closing it just yet."

The El Dorado instantly dropped so quickly that it made Aisha's stomach lurch. Now the external pick-ups were flooding the cabin with the sounds of people yelling and panicking outside. 

"Hey! HEY!" 

"What the hell!" 

"Aauuggghh! Get out of the way!!"

"Second level, Ron!" Harry called out.

Ron glanced over at Aisha. "Take it forward, but watch out-- you'll have to take a left at about 200 yards."

__

Take a left?! Aisha's eyes went wide. _That's not possible_! But just in case... Aisha reached around and strapped herself securely into her seat.

The ship swung out wide to the right and then dropped into a quick roll, abruptly pointing its nose left as it did. SSSSHHHHHKKKKK!! The side of the Shangri-La scraped against the walls of the hangar as it came out of the turn. Aisha slammed her hands over her ears again. She couldn't see it, but sparks were flying from the walls and ship as the two surfaces met. And then, thankfully, the screeching stopped and the ship steadied. It had been tight, but they'd actually made it. 

Ahead the open garage door was visible, sunlight shining brightly through it. The problem was, there were a lot of people wandering around in front of it, and it didn't seem as though either Ron or Harry were the type of guy to stop and politely wait for pedestrians to get out of the way. 

"Hey! HEY!" Aisha yelled frantically. "There are people there! Look, there are people there! You can't just run 'em over!"

Ron fixed her with his yellow eyes. "They'll move."

Sure enough, when the truckers and techies saw the ship speeding towards them, there was a mad scramble away from the door. Luckily no innocent lives were lost-- though quite a few pairs of pants were ruined. 

The Shangri-La burst out of the garage and out over a main street. Now the outside microphones were picking up screeching tires and honking horns, as well as a couple of crashes as cars and trucks swerved to get the hell out of the way. The ship was so low that it barely avoided clipping the top of a semi. It sped up the street, blowing smaller cars sideways in its wake. The Shangri-La accelerated and within seconds they were shooting up into the sky.

"Still think this is a piece of shit ship?" Ron called out smugly over his shoulder.

Aisha re-crossed her arms and didn't reply. Around them the sky was fading from blue to black as they headed out of Tesla's atmosphere and into space. 

********************************************

Ron brought his attention back to the radar on the screen in front of him, and set his mouth grimly. It looked like they were giving chase already-- but then again, he hadn't expected anything less. "Head for the Lavez meteor field," he told his brother, looking tersely out of the cockpit's windshield. "That's our best chance."

__

Best chance? Aisha slid her eyes down toward her screen. _Aw, dammit... of course those guys couldn't just give up, could they? This is just great... now I'm stuck on a pirate ship, being chased by more pirates! I should have just stayed in bed this morning_!

"Seven ships," Ron announced. "Two big ones, five smaller ones. The big ones might be a problem with all the damage we've got. Harry, how's your maneuverability?"

"It's fine for now. Just leave it to me," Harry replied tensely, concentrating on flying.

Ron set his mouth and leaned over to look at the ruined console at the front of the ship. "Did you have to smash _that _console?" he growled at Aisha. "Those are the main controls-- we can't use the external cameras because of you! That means we can't see anything that's not directly in front of the ship!" 

Aisha snorted and stuck her nose up in the air. "You might wanna turn around."

Ron whipped back around to see one of the smaller ships zooming around in front of the Shangri-la. He snarled and reached for a huge lever on his console. Instantly one of the grappler arms extended and snagged the small ship. 

Just as the metal fingers closed around that ship, a volley of fire crashed into the left side of the Shangri-La. "Portside shield!" Ron yelled as the ship veered to the side. The grappler arm squeezed the first ship to bits, even as more shots hit the McDougals' ship.

__

Beep! Beep! Beep! 

Aisha glanced down at her screen. A jumble of technical drawings had appeared, and one of the square sections was flashing red. _That's the left side_, she realized, _and it's been damaged pretty badly. And the shield's not up yet!_

Two more shots hit Aisha's side of the Shangri-La. That damn portside ship wasn't gonna give up, was it? _I might be in a little bit of trouble here_, Aisha decided. It didn't look as though either Harry or Ron were aware that the shields were malfunctioning; Harry was too busy trying to fly, and Ron was too busy trying to shoot down one of the larger ships-- a big green monstrosity with a demon painted on its back, visible through the front windshield. 

__

All right, I gotta do something. It's my own ass on the line here! She uncrossed her arms and attacked the buttons on the side console. If the external cameras weren't working, she'd just have to find something that would let her see the enemy. Aisha scanned down a list of items with her finger-- external cam (disabled), radar (50% accuracy) infrared scanner... infrared scanner! Aha! Now there was something to work with. If she put that together with the slightly off radar, she could triangulate the enemy ships' positions. The radar and the scanner popped up on screen, along with the systems check for a very large gun. Aisha grinned. The ammo was at 76 percent, and that was plenty. 

The other ships now showed up on screen as red and orange blobs, but that was enough. With a smirk, she locked in on that persistent portside ship and expertly shot it down. Ron flicked his eyes over to her as the explosion lit up the left side of the front window. Aisha ignored him-- she was busy with her guns. She'd almost forgotten how good battle felt!

"Transmit that to my screen!" Ron commanded in a rush. Without thinking (or noticing that she was actually obeying a direct order) Aisha did as she was told. The radar/infrared info popped up onto his console. 

Now that both she and Ron had at least a partial view of the battle, the other guys didn't have a chance. Ron set his sights on one of the large ships that were presently shooting missiles at them. He shot the missiles down mid-flight, then took out the ship easily. The enemy was down to three ships now, but Aisha quickly cut it down to one with a volley of well-aimed fire. The final ship, the big green one, was now attempting to make an escape. 

Ron glared at the screen. "Oh, no you don't," he snarled. "Harry! Increase engine output! Catch that bastard!"

The Shangri-La instantly shot forward. Ron pushed up the huge levers in front of him, extending the grappler arms. The green ship really didn't have a chance of outrunning the McDougals' ship. But Ron narrowed his amber eyes. _A cornered animal_, he thought to himself, _is the one that gives the fiercest fight_. 

Sure enough, just as the Shangri-La was right upon it, the green ship spun suddenly down and out of the way. Ron had anticipated the move. He aimed the pointed nose of his ship in the same direction, spiraling after his enemy. Aisha flattened her ears against the side of her head so that they wouldn't pop from the sudden pressure change. She couldn't use the gun now; the random, spontaneous way Ron was flying made the possibility of flying into their own firing path too great.

The green ship pulled up and to the side, quick as lightening-- but not as quickly as the Shangri-La. The yellow ship darted after it, gaining even though the green ship zigged and zagged, trying every evasive maneuver it was capable of. Ron allowed a smile to curl his lip. He was just playing now. Any time he wanted to, he could reach out and snatch up the other ship and crush it with the grappler arms. Speaking of, now was as good a time as any. 

Ron urged the Shangri-La forward and stabbed the pincer-like grapplers into the back of the green ship. "Harry, do me a favor and open up an audio channel to our good friend, will you?" Ron smirked. 

Harry laughed. "Right."

There was a bit of static, then a voice came through. "McDougal...." it snarled, furious.

"That was very bad manners, you know," Ron interrupted him. "Running like that. You're the one that started all this."

Aisha sniffed. Something wasn't quite right. That had been a bit too easy, hadn't it?

"You won't get away with this!" the pirate yelled. "You won't escape! We may not have stopped you, but the others will-- the elders will make sure of it! Half the galaxy will be chasing you by tomorrow, McDougal!"

"Damn, he talks a lot," Aisha muttered as the pirate continued his tirade. 

Ron seemed to agree. "Tell your elders they'd be wise to crawl back into the holes they came out of. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot-- you won't be able to," he smiled evilly and punched the grappler arms deeper into the ship's back.

There was silence for a long moment, and then a low chuckle came from the com. "McDougal, you're such an idiot," the pirate laughed. The Shangri-La jerked suddenly. 

Ron cursed and looked out of the window. A green grappler arm had a hold on the Shangri-la's starboard gun-- Ron's gun. Another snaked out and wrapped itself around the Shangri-la's grappler arms.

"Your overconfidence is your downfall, McDougal," the pirate called triumphantly. "While you were busy gloating, I programmed my ship to self-destruct. You've got less than a minute to live."

"Less than a minute?!!" Aisha screeched. "Aww, what did I do to deserve this?"

Ron attacked his controls, trying to jerk the Shangri-La's grappler arms free. "Harry! Max output on the backburners! Pull us free!"

"McDougal, get those grapplers out of there!" Aisha yelled.

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do?" he roared back, pulling desperately on the controls. It was no use-- the arms were stuck in the green ship's back, right in the center of the demon's chest. The painting seemed to grin up at them evilly. 

Aisha let out an angry snarl and redirected her gun toward the Shangri-la's struggling grappler arms.

"Shit!" Ron swore as the first few of her shots punched into the green ship, way too close to his precious grapplers for comfort. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! We need those! I'm not gonna let you shoot the arms off of this ship, you crazy--" 

"Shut up and hold 'em still!" Aisha snapped, and continued shooting. After a moment Ron realized what she was doing and stopped his futile struggle to jerk the arms free. 

Aisha was a very accurate shot, when she wanted to be. Biting her lip in concentration, she fired a circle of shots tightly around the grappler arms, severing the grip of their enemy's grappler. With the ring of holes punched into the green ship, the metal holding the arms was weakened.

"Pull out!" Aisha ordered. Ron glanced at her, then attacked his controls again. After a few more moments of struggling, the grappler arms ripped free, tearing out a large chunk of the green ship with them. 

Aisha resisted the urge to cheer, but she did allow herself a smug smirk. 

The green ship was now a sparking, ruined mess, but it could still self-destruct, even with half of it riddled with blast holes. Ron directed one of the grappler arms to the green ship's arm that still held his gun. With a brutal twist, he bent the grappler until it snapped. The Shangri-la was free. 

"Get us out of here, Harry!"

The Shangri-la twisted up and shot away from the green ship. Seconds later, the green ship exploded into a ball of yellow and orange fire. The explosion was so close that the flash, barely visible to the periphery of the Shangri-la's front window, still dazzled Aisha's eyes. Her face split into a wide grin.

So, there 'tis. Tell me what you think. What pairings do you guys like, anyway? Not that I'm necessarily gonna go in that direction, but I'm asking for future reference. Thanks, laterz!


End file.
